WWE icon Dave Batista looked unrecognisable as fans claimed a "whole different person" was pictured in a "wild" teenage photo of himself shared on social media.
Fans of the former wrestler were amazed at the poles-apart looking 16-year-old, posted by the Hall of Famer onto his Instagram account. With a full head of black hair and short red shorts, the youngster was already showing early signs of the incredible physique he would go onto develop.
Followers of the Animal, whose real name is Dave Bautista, were shocked at the image, which was a far cry from his current look. The Hollywood actor put out the beach bod image to his 5.3 million fans for Throwback Thursday on the platform.
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Batista captioned the pic: "Throwing it back to 16-year-old me, beach bod and all. Nice view!"
And fans were quick to appreciate the image, with more than 150,000 liking what they saw, many of which descending on the comments section to share their thoughts.
One poster wrote: "Um...wow! So that's what your skin looks like underneath the ink!"
Another said: "Did you get more Filipino with age?? This is wild!" A third added: "Whole different person, geez." While a fourth gushed: "Some genetics that … born to be a champ."
The former wrestler, who is now 55 years old, spent eight years working as a full-time wrestler before breaking into the mainstream with the WWE.
And after winning championships, his star power carried over to his acting career, which has flourished in recent years.
As a member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), The Animal was cast as Drax the Destroyer, while also appearing in Glass Onion and Knock at the Cabin.
Having sporadically appeared in WWE after his departure in 2010, Batista officially retired from professional wrestling and left the company for good in 2019, as he decided to focus completely on his acting career.
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